Protective disposable garments such as gowns, drapes, caps and shoe covers have been used for many years to minimize contamination in xe2x80x9ccleanroomsxe2x80x9d such as laboratories and medical operating rooms. Disposable shoe covers, in particular, are of great importance in these environments, as shoes are in constant contact with the xe2x80x9ccleanxe2x80x9d area. In settings such as these, the shoe covers serve to protect the sterile atmosphere from dust and any other contaminates human traffic may introduce.
Shoe covers also serve to protect the wearer from hazards already present in these environments. The shoe covers prevent the wearer from being exposed to hazards such as electricity, chemicals, metals, microbiological agents, disease and tools. It is thus desirable to design a disposable shoe cover that prevents the transmission of contaminates to and from a shoe.
The use of disposable shoe covers is not limited to the aforementioned environments. Each environment requires a shoe cover made of a material having specific characteristics. As a result, disposable shoe covers may need to be fabricated from a wide array of materials including polyethylene or polypropylene sheet materials, non-woven fabrics or other disposable materials. It is therefore also desirable to design a disposable shoe cover that can be manufactured out of varied materials. Furthermore, the assortment of shoe shapes and sizes necessitate disposable shoe covers of various shapes and sizes.
Finally, it is necessary to design a disposable shoe cover that can be applied onto the wearer""s shoe without the handling of the disposable shoe cover itself. If not, the purpose of maintaining a sterile preparation routine before entering to the clean room area may be defeated. Manual handling of the shoe covers may spoil the sanitary nature of the shoe covers. Most disposable shoe covers available today require manual application.
Nonetheless, attempts to address this concern have been made. An example of an automated shoe cover application device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,939 which discloses an operation wherein the wearer""s shoe is wrapped in heat-shrinkable material upon the insertion of the wearer""s foot into a shrink-wrap device. While this type of device may do away with the need to manually handle the shoe cover during is application upon a shoe, it is not adaptable to be used with a wide range of disposable shoe covers made of the varying materials needed for various types of sanitary environments.
Additionally, such a device is expensive, complicated and could be dangerous. A heat-shrinking operation, such as the one disclosed in the aforementioned patent, requires multiple motors, a heating unit, heating elements, a blower and extensive wiring and electrical controllers. These elements are not only expensive but also form an intricate system that is difficult to maintain and repair. Furthermore, such an extensive electrical heating system increases the risk of injury to the user who must set his or her foot into the device to have it shrink-wrapped.
As described above, many approaches for applying shoe covers to a wearer""s shoe have been proposes. Yet, there remains a need for a simple, inexpensive and safe means for applying shoe covers to a wearer""s shoe without the handling of the shoe cover itself. Further, there is a need for an automatic shoe cover applicator compatible with shoe covers of varied materials, shapes and sizes.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follow, an in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the apparatus particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodies and broadly described, the invention consists of shoe cover application device having a holding arrangement to hold a shoe cover open in a receiving position for the insertion of a user""s shoe. There is also a separation member operable to separate the shoe cover from the holding arrangement allowing the shoe cover to constrict around the user""s shoe that was inserted into the shoe cover while the shoe cover was in the receiving position.
An embodiment of the present invention also includes a guiding system utilized to guide the shoe covers from a storage bin to the holding arrangement, a retaining member responsible, while in a retaining position, for preventing the guiding of the shoe covers from the storage bin to the holding arrangement, and an actuator to both initiate the operation of the separation member and control the position of the retaining member.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a shoe cover application device that applies a shoe cover to a user""s shoe with the manual handing of the shoe cover itself.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automatic shoe cover application device that is simple, inexpensive and safe to use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an automatic shoe cover application device compatible with shoe covers of varied materials, shapes and sizes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. It is understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.